Fake Turns Real

Troublesome Admirer

"(Yn)," Richard repeated as he approached us, and nodded at John briefly before turning to me again, "What a coincidence! It's nice to see you here!"

Somehow I got the impression that he was here on purpose. I told him about me going to the movies with John earlier today, did I not? And this was the closest cinema to us.

"Same," I forced a smile at him; he was starting to get on my nerves. Even though I was very against the idea of being his other half, I liked him as a friend before - but now he was ruining that feeling. He was trying too hard and it was annoying me, and not to mention creeping me out too.

"Why are you here?" I asked him directly with a sharp edge in my tone before I could have second thoughts about it. Part of me did not want to play nice anymore.

And it was for John's sake too. If Richard was going to be a handful to handle, God knows how long we would have to put up with this act.

Plus, it was for mine as well if you looked at it from another angle. I wanted this to be over for good, with Richard, and with John.

"I was watching a movie with my friend and, he's just left," he shrugged, averting his gaze away for a split second. I half believed him.

"Hmm, it's nice seeing you here," I said and tugged on John's hand to give him the signal that we were leaving, "Have a nice evening!"

We turned around but Richard grabbed my free arm, "Wait (Yn)!"

"Yes?" I looked back; I felt John's hand tightened around mine.

"Can I... Can I talk to you for a minute?" he darted a glance at John, "Alone."

I looked at John to seek for help. He paused for a moment and said, "I'll wait for you by the ticket counter," he let go of my hand after giving it a gentle squeeze.

Oh good, now I had to face Richard alone. John's words of "men getting jealous could be scary" surfaced in my thought. I clutched my hands nervously; John's absence was making me uneasy.

Richard's eyes followed something behind me which I assumed was John's figure walking away. A moment later he pulled me to the side where there were less people and was more quiet.

"(Yn)," Richard started, "Do you really love John?"

"Why are you asking such a question?" that was a weird question to ask, even if we were not pretending to date. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm sorry but, I really want to know," he explained desperately.

"Yes, I love John," I tried to look convincing.

"Do – do you love me?" okay, I take back my words - comparing to this, the previous question was not even weird.

"Richard," I began, trying not to lose my patience, "I like you as a friend. But I do not love you like that. I'm sorry."

"If you had given me a chance, I'm sure I could have made you fall in love with me like you are with John," he said, regret burning in his eyes.

"Things don't happen like that," I sighed, "We can't go back in time. And you can predict anything when it comes to love. It just happens."

"Please, give me a chance," he pleaded, "You still haven't got married, so we still have a chance... Please let me prove it to you that I am better than him, and I love you much more than he does, please, give—"

"RICHARD," I cut him off; I had almost run out of patience – he was like a mad man now, with his eyes going crazy. I understood why he was so persistent that it was getting out of hand – he was rich, he could always get anything he wanted with just a snap of his fingers, but now, he had tried everything and still he could not get me. Now that I thought about it, I wondered if he really loved me as he claimed he did, "You can't force something like that to happen! If it's meant to be, it'll be."